The communications industry is rapidly changing to adjust to emerging technologies and ever increasing customer demand. This customer demand for new applications and increased performance of existing applications is driving communications network and system providers to employ networks and systems having greater speed and capacity (e.g., greater bandwidth). In trying to achieve these goals, a common approach taken by many communications providers is to use packet switching technology.
Reliably communicating information in a network is important. When the topology of the network changes, such as when a path over which certain packets are forwarded becomes unavailable or a new path is added to the network, corrective action is required.